TA5 1UD, EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Ltd, EPR/CB3735DT/V008: application to change (vary) the radioactive substances permit at Hinkley Point B Power Station
Overview
Privacy Notice
Environmental permit application privacy notice
The Environment Agency runs the environmental permit application service.
We are the data controller for this service. A data controller determines how and why personal information is processed.
Our personal information charter explains:
- your rights
- what we do with your personal information
We’re allowed to process your personal information because we have official authority as the environmental regulator. We need this information to carry out a task in the public interest that is set out in law.
We need your personal information to process your environmental permit application. If you do not give us this information we cannot issue a permit to you. After we’ve issued a permit to you, we use your personal information:
- to check you’re complying with your permit
- during any potential enforcement action
What personal information we collect
If you’re the individual applicant, director or company secretary of a company applying or a
technically competent manager we need your:
- name
- date of birth
- address
- email address
If you’re the agent, consultant, employee responsible for the activity, or the employee responsible for billing and invoicing we need your:
- name
- address
- email address
If you’re the applicant we need details of any:
- convictions
- bankruptcy
We also collect any questions or feedback you leave, including your email address if you contact us.
Your responsibility with other people’s personal information
If you’ve included personal information about other people on your application, you must tell them. You must provide them with a copy of this privacy notice so that they know how their personal information will be used.
What we do with your personal information
We use your personal information to help us decide whether to issue you with a permit.
This information is published on our consultation website during the consultation period. This website is available to everyone so your information may be transferred outside the European Economic Area.
After consultation we put all the information you give us in your application on our public register.
If you can prove that the information you will send us is commercially or industrially confidential, we’ll consider withholding that information from our public register.
If you think that the information you will send us may be a threat to national security you must contact the Secretary Of State before you apply. You must still send us that information with your application. We will not include this information on our public register unless the Secretary of State decides it can be included.
See the environmental permitting guidance for guidance on national security.
We may use your email address to contact you for user research to improve our service. You do not have to take part in the research.
Where your personal information is processed and stored
We store and process your personal information on servers in the UK.
We will not transfer your personal information outside the European Economic Area.
We do not use your personal information to make an automated decision or for automated profiling.
How long we keep your personal information
We keep your personal information while your permit is in use and for 7 years after you surrender it. If your permit is for a landfill site, we keep the data for 10 years after surrender.
Removing personal information from the public register
We will remove your personal information from the public register if:
- you withdraw your application
- we refuse your application and the time limit for appealing the decision has expired or an
- appeal is dismissed
- the information is no longer relevant for public participation purposes under the Environmental Permitting Regulations
Contact
Our Data Protection Team gives independent advice. They monitor how the Environment Agency
uses your personal information. If you have questions or concerns about how we process personal information, or to make a complaint or request relating to data protection, please contact:
Data Protection Team, Environment Agency, Horizon House, Deanery Road, Bristol, BS1 5AH
Email: dataprotection@environment‐agency.gov.uk
You can also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The ICO is the supervisory authority for data protection legislation. The ICO website has a full list of
your rights under data protection legislation
The Environment Agency is the independent environmental regulator for the nuclear industry in England. We make sure that nuclear power stations and radioactive waste disposal sites meet our high standards of environmental protection throughout the stages of design, construction, operation and decommissioning.
Operators of nuclear sites in England must have a permit for radioactive substances activities from the Environment Agency under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016 (EPR16). The environmental permits we issue to nuclear site operators contain strict conditions (rules) that they must follow at all times.
We set specific limits in the permit on what operators are allowed to release when carrying out certain activities, including:
- managing or disposing of radioactive waste
- making discharges to air and water
About Hinkley Point B
The Hinkley Point B power station is operated by EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Ltd (EDF).
Hinkley Point B started producing electricity in 1976, using two Advanced Gas Cooled Reactors (AGR). In 2022 the site stopped generating electricity, with both reactors shutdown and isolated.
The site is currently in the defueling phase and working towards Fuel Free Status. Reactor 4 defueled in September 2024 and the company is targeting Reactor 3 to be defueled by October 2025.
Our consultation
Now the reactors are no longer operational and following defueling, certain radioisotopes are no longer produced. To reflect the current activities, EDF has applied to remove some radionuclide limits in its environmental permit EPR/CB3735DT.
The proposed changes to the environmental permit would more accurately reflect the reducing radiological hazard and risks from Hinkley Point B and align with the current lifecycle stage.
We are seeking your comments on an application received from EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Ltd (EDF) to change (vary) its radioactive substances permit EPR/CB3735DT/V008 for
Hinkley Point B Power Station
Nr Bridgwater
Somerset
TA5 1UD
Why your views matter
We aim to build and maintain confidence in our decision-making processes through our public engagement and consultation. It is our responsibility to make decisions about environmental permit applications for radioactive waste disposal, but we consider that our decisions can be improved through consultation with a wide range of stakeholders.
We can all help to protect and improve the environment by being actively involved. Our public participation statement shows how our process is open, transparent and consultative. Our approach to consultation is in line with the government’s published consultation principles. We would like people to understand our role in relation to radioactive waste disposal, what we are doing and why it’s important.
Our consultations are open to everyone and we invite the following groups to take part:
- the nuclear and radioactive waste disposal industry
- members of the public and communities (including local interest and action groups) near to the Hinkley site and other nuclear sites
- elected representatives, including MPs and councillors
- local councils in Somerset or near other nuclear sites
- academics, scientists and consultants with an interest in radioactive waste disposal, nuclear power, energy or the environment
- non-governmental organisations (NGOs), campaign groups and environmental groups
- statutory consultees
- other government agencies
- other regulators
- any other organisation or public bodies
We will carefully consider consultation responses as part of our determination of the application.
We will only vary the permit if we believe that harm to the environment, people and wildlife will be minimised. If the applicant can demonstrate that the varied permit will meet all of the legal requirements, including those for the use of Best Available Techniques (BAT), public radiation dose and wildlife radiation dose, then we are legally obliged to grant the application.
Advice about what aspects and issues we can and cannot take account of is provided below.
We can take account of:
- relevant environmental regulatory requirements and technical standards
- information on local population habits and practices and sensitive sites
- comments on whether the right process is being used for the activity
- the potential impact, whether the impact is acceptable and what pollution control measures or abatement may be required
- the shape and use of the land around the site in terms of its potential impact, whether that impact is acceptable and what pollution control or abatement may be required
- information that we have not been made aware of in the application.
- Any incorrect information in the application
We cannot take account of:
- issues beyond those in the relevant environmental regulations
- anything outside the scope of the Environmental Permitting Regulations
- whether a site should have a formal designation under Habitats Directive or other conservation legislation
- whether the activity should be allowed or not as a matter of principle and the Justification of practices involving radiation - for example, we will not consider the justification for the UK nuclear submarine programme
- the impact of noise and odour from traffic travelling to and from the site
- comments about the Government’s nuclear site decommissioning policy
- Comments about the transport of radioactive waste
- the legally defined process we follow to determine a permit
Give us your views
Audiences
- Anyone from any background
Interests
- Nuclear and fusion lifecycles pages
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